Just Short of Peace
by Cheddar the Cheese
Summary: A Buffy/Highlander crossover where Xander finds himself running away from his problems in Sunnydale and right into new ones on his way north. *finally updated!*
1. Xander

Title: Just Short Of Peace  
  
By: Cheddar  
  
Rating: PG-!3  
  
Summery: Xander is running away after Hells Bells and is forever falling just short of peace. That is until he meets some immortals who are hell bent on giving him peace. Just not the kind he wants.  
  
Note: This is only the prologue to a longer story. It's a Buffy/Highlander crossover set post Hells Bells for Buffy and Richie never died on Highlander.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot which is self-admittedly trite. I'm sorry but I had to write it no matter how bad it was.  
  
Distribution: Just tell me where you're putting it.  
  
Feedback: Please give me your honest opinion on this. That means more to me than superficial reviews. Thank you.  
  
*  
  
I always knew that I would reach a point in my life where I wouldn't be able to handle it all. So here I am. Seated comfortably in my old car dressed to the nines with nothing more than a bit of cash my dad had slipped in my pocket at the rehearsal dinner. And What was I doing? I was running. I was doing what I'd always done best. Running away from my problems. But It was something more too. Maybe I was running away from the painful memories that assaulted me day after day and night after night. The dreams that left me shaking for hours after I woke up. But how can you run away from memories?  
  
I will remember you  
  
Will you remember me?  
  
Don't let your life pass you by  
  
Weep not for the memories  
  
The first time I ever had those dreams it was Jesse who yelled my name. Yelling at me to awake before I did it. How he looked at me as I drove that stake through his heart pierced mine. Even if he didn't have a soul, could he still feel as betrayed as I did with that action? I betrayed both him and my friendship for the pray that I could save his soul. Yeah, back when religion meant something to me.  
  
Yeah, so Jesse was the first memory that killed me. For months afterwards I would dream about it and wake up in a clod sweat not remembering anything in the dreams. Mom got really worried and took me to a shrink who said it was night terrors brought on by a traumatic event. I think that was the only time Mom ever noticed that something might be wrong with me about anything. Most times she just ignored me.  
  
Dad was worse though. He was forever telling me that I wasn't his kid. Always saying something about 'his kid' having died in the hospital. When I was little Mom used to tell me stories about how I almost died but as I grew and the novelty of having a child wore off for her she stopped spending time with me and began to drink more.  
  
When I was twelve, Jesse and Willow helped me move down the basement. The tree of us spent our summer slumber parties down there until Willow's mom said she was too old to be sleeping in the same room with two boys and then it was just Jesse and me. It seemed like so long ago but it wasn't. Not Really. And i drove on into the night. Leaving behind me a marriage that would never have worked and a past I would never escape.  
  
Remember the good times that we had?  
  
I let them slip away from us when things got bad  
  
How clearly I first saw you smiling' in the sun  
  
Wanna feel your warmth upon me, I wanna be the one  
  
I will remember you  
  
Will you remember me?  
  
Don't let your life pass you by  
  
Weep not for the memories  
  
Another mile, another memory. The next dreams were about Cordelia. In my dreams she was always pinned to the wall by a metal rod in her stomach. Watching as I plunged that wood into Jesse's heart. Her eyes filled with horror that I could do that to my own best friend.  
  
I'd come so close to losing her that night and I know she hated me but when I heard about it I almost broke my knees crying. But I held it in. I had to. I would not be weak like my father had always told me I was. I would not be that man. Never ever would I be the drunken fool he had become.  
  
On into the night my little car sped. Faster than was legal but there was no one out here at this time of night. I don't know which way I was going. North I think. I soon began seeing signs for San Fransico and Oakland. The lights of Las Angeles dimmed behind me and the wind whistled through the cracked window. But It seemed somehow right. I was going to be as far away as possible. Maybe I'd go to Canada or turn east at some point and go see the Mall of America... No, all those people flashing money around would remind me of Anya and I wasn't ready for that. Maybe I'd leave the country. Go live in some quiet European town where nothing ever happened. Find a nice life and die with no clue as to what had ever happened to any of them. I tried telling myself it would be easy my hands twitched trying to turn the car around bellying that sullen prayer.  
  
And on and on I drove. I knew that soon I'd have to stop but I couldn't. Not yet. There was a pressure on my chest that told me I needed sleep. My eyes were heavy but my heart beat hard telling me to press on 'til morning... If only I could go to morning then I'd sleep without the dreams for the first time in years...  
  
I'm so tired but I can't sleep  
  
Standing' on the edge of something much too deep  
  
It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word  
  
We are screaming inside, but we can't be heard  
  
But I will remember you  
  
Will you remember me?  
  
Don't let your life pass you by  
  
Weep not for the memories  
  
I was so tired. Tired not only from driving but also of living the life I had been. I'd been tired of fighting since I was in high school. My post graduation road trip had been my first attempt to run. I never really intended to come back but I had. I hoped I would do better this time around.  
  
Up ahead a sign told me that I was fast approaching a small town. I can't remember its name and it will always be a no-name town in my memory like every town I've ever been to. Except Sunnydale. It promised a bed and food and I knew I wouldn't be able to afford anything else. And so I pulled in. I stopped at a tiny motel and checked in. I dumped my few things on the floor and fell into bed with my clothes still on. Eyes wide open.  
  
Why is it that when you need sleep the most it never comes? I must have lain there for an hour before I gave up. I sat up, grabbed the key and walked out. I began to wander the deserted streets of Town-No-Name USA listening for the silence and watching nothing. I didn't think. I just walked. And that not thinking is probably what got me in trouble.  
  
A scream pierced the night and without a second or even a first thought, I was off in pursuit of it. My hand went instinctively to the stake that was always in my pocket and I rounded a corner to find myself standing in an alley just like every other alley in the world. And at the end I saw a sight I had seen so many times in my short life. A vampire draining a woman. Her long blond curls made me think for a moment that it was Anya...  
  
I'm so afraid to love you, but more afraid to lose  
  
Clinging to a past that doesn't let me chose  
  
Once there was a darkness, deep and endless night  
  
You gave me everything you had, oh you gave me light  
  
And I will remember you  
  
Will you remember me?  
  
Don't let your life pass you by  
  
Weep not for the memories  
  
Without a thought I plunged the stake into the vampire's back turning him to dust. The woman fell to the ground barely alive. The resemblance to Anya was too close for comfort and I found myself half wanting to walk away. But I couldn't. This isn't her I told myself. It isn't her.  
  
But the woman before me was half dead and there was no way I could save her. Gently I lifted her into my arms. She turned her fear filled eyes to me and her hand brushed my face with a feather light touch. Like an angel.  
  
"My father told me once that life is a precious thing and that as long as we are remembered by those around us, we never die." Her voice was shaky and she knew she was dying. It was past time to think about calling an ambulance. "Do you think it's true? If you remember me, the girl you held in your arms as she died, will I never really and truly die?"  
  
"I believe it." I didn't know what else to say.  
  
She smiled at me. The faintest ghost of a smile but it was there. "Thank you." And she was gone from my life as quickly as she'd come. I didn't even know her name.  
  
Standing up, I left her there. I retraced my steps back to the motel and climbing into the bed which smelled of stale breath and rancid beer, I fell into a sleep filled with that woman's face streaming with tears because no one remembered her.  
  
And I will remember you  
  
Will you remember me?  
  
Don't let your life pass you by  
  
Weep not for the memories  
  
The next morning I arose with guilt weighing me down. I got back in the car and set off. I couldn't go as fast as I had been last night but maybe that was okay. On my way out of the town, I passed the alley where everything had happened. It swarmed with police and a fire truck as well. I didn't slow or stop. I had built up a barrier some time during the night. My heart was as stone now. Nothing would hurt more than Her dying words. "Remember me..." I would. I would fever and ever but I would never cry. I would never let myself feel for any one again. I would not weep for the memories of things past. Things I could not change. I'll remember you but I can not cry. I'll never give them that.  
  
Weep not for the memories  
  
TBC.....? 


	2. Alex and Amanda

Title: Just Short Of Peace  
  
By: Cheddar  
  
Rating: PG-!3  
  
Summery: Xander is running away after Hells Bells and is forever falling just short of peace. That is until he meets some immortals who are hell bent on giving him peace. Just not the kind he wants.  
  
Note: This is the second chapter. This story is a Buffy/Highlander crossover set post Hells Bells for Buffy and Richie never died on Highlander. (AKA: just general information needed. As in who the characters are and what their histories/relationships are.) I own Ace and Delmar as far as I know.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the plot which is self-admittedly trite. I'm sorry but I had to write it no matter how bad it was.  
  
Distribution: Just tell me where you're putting it.  
  
Feedback: Please give me your honest opinion on this. Key word "honest". That means more than superficial reviews that just say great story (although I'm not opposed to them;-}) but tell me why you like/dislike it. Thank you.  
  
*  
  
Ace was bored. The cars all began to look the same after a while and on the outskirts of the tiny California town, nothing ever happened. Some times he and Delmar would go in town and stir things up but for the most part they just stayed here. But right now he wanted to be anywhere else. He wanted to go to Rome or Paris to see the sights.  
  
But for now he'd have to wait until they made some money. Being immortal sure sucked if you had no money to go anywhere. Would he be stuck in this hell hole his whole life? Damn that was shaping up to be a long time. His teacher, Delmar, always said that immortal life was more than traveling. It was about getting heads. "You want the prize. See that's where we're different. I don't want it but you do." Ace wasn't sure he got it but he figured he'd get it some day.  
  
But did he really want that prize? To be able to say you killed that many? He hadn't taken any heads yet and a part of him wanted to in the worst way. Delmar said it was the quickening but Ace hadn't been able to test that. There were no immortals anywhere near here and here was where they were going to be for the foreseeable future.  
  
Just then Ace noticed the faint raising of dust slowly coming up the road. Delmar stepped out of the shadowy shop wiping his hands on a cloth that was just as oily as his hands. The older man looked at him then squinted his eyes off into the distance.  
  
"I think you're about to get your first head boy." Delamr said it without a flicker of emotion in his voice and Ace began to wonder what he meant. He should have known that his teacher never did anything without a reason. Like him for example. The only reason he was alive instead of dead at5 Delmar's hands was because evil old Delmar wanted some one as ruthless as himself to take over for him. But since they were broke, they hadn't really gotten anywhere. But this might be his chance.  
  
"Don't call me boy," Ace said with a slight smile.  
  
Delamr ignored. "It's pre-immy. We'll have to kill it first." And he went back inside without another word.  
  
Ace just stood there on that dusty little yard. Delmar would want him to do it. To kill this poor kid who was probably not even gonna know about any kind of supernatural stuff. He almost felt sorry but his eagerness to please his teacher overwhelmed that. So he set to work. But he kept his eye on the slowly approaching swirl of dust down the road.  
  
*  
  
You know, it just had to do this to me now. Out here in the middle of no where, my car has to die on me. But with all the dirt on this road it must happen a lot because some wise person had put a carrepair stop just up a head. Oh thank the gods for wise idiots who want to live way out here!  
  
So I got out and decided to push the car the few feet to the car place. There was a guy out front working on another car. As I plowed my way over, he watched me. He just watched me like a little old lady looks at fly before she sends her crossword puzzle crashing down on it. Or at least that's what my grandmother used to do.  
  
When I hit the driveway, the car guy came over. His shirt had his name on it. ACE was embroidered on it in red letters. Ace. It suited his sandy blond hair and dusty brown eyes. It suited the car guy. "What seems to be the problem?" He asked.  
  
"It just sort of died on me."  
  
"Yeah that happens a lot around here." What was this? Some two-bit movie with no budget and no script? Must have been.  
  
"Let me go get the guy who owns the place and we'll take a look." I nodded and he went inside.  
  
I was left alone on the dusty car yard watching a dust devil strike up and burn itself out. It was sure taking them a while. My years on the Hellmouth made me begin to get suspicious. 'Come on Xan man. You have a right to be wary of people.' I told myself. So I waited calmly for a minute or two. That's when it got to be more and more like some bad movie.  
  
Ace and another guy both exited the dark shop and the first thing I saw was the swords they both held. The guy I didn't know was a tall man with black hair but it was covered in dust from the road. He leered at me from his higher height (Is there such a thing?) and I felt myself backing up. Damn. I didn't even do anything and they were already trying to kill me.  
  
The tall man was on me in the space of a second. He pinned my arms to my side and flipped me over so my stomach was on the car. My back was compleatly exposed and his arms held me tight. Shit. "Get over here, boy. You remember what I taught you?" I really didn't want to know what Ace had been taught. I wanted to get the hell out of there. Even if I had to walk.  
  
I felt the cold pinprick of pain as the tip of the sword pressed into my back just over my heart. It sped up. "Well, get on with it." The man holding me said. Then everything happened at once.  
  
The sword flew up cutting my back deeply and nicking the back of my head. The hands that held me dropped and their owner screamed in pain. I fell to the ground next to him. The sword stuck out of his heart. He was dead but I didn't have time to think about it. Looking up I saw that Ace stood over us with the other man's sword held loosely in his hand. That's when I passed out.  
  
When I woke up, I was in the hospital laying on my stomach. A nurse was near-by checking all the vital functions. Then the pain washed over me and I let out a groan. She looked back at me. Through my drug induced haze she looked a little like Tara with the long brownish hair and soft features. But it wasn't her.  
  
"Sir? Can you hear me?" I gave a nod but regretted it when the pain got worse from the movement.  
  
"Where am I?" I croaked.  
  
"You are in the hospital. Your friend brought you in. Do remember what happened?" I shook my head because it hurt less to do that than to talk. "He said you two were practicing with some swords and you got cut. Do you remember that?" Another nod. So that was his cover. What about the body. But the Tara look alike just kept going. "You're going to be just fine. Your sister's here. You should be able to go home in a few days. It wasn't that bad. Now you should get some sleep." And she injected something into my IV. It was at work before I could ask about this sister I had suddenly acquired.  
  
A week flew by and I had compleatly forgotten the non-conversation about my so called sister. I was feeling much better and was way past ready to be on the road once more. So on the day he was to check out he packed away the pillows they'd given him in the bag that had appeared in his room one day. He put on the pants and tank from his tux and put the rest in the bag. The hospital staff insisted on wheeling him out and he signed the papers finding that it'd all been paid for to his surprise. But he didn't want to question it. When he asked about his car the nurse laughed. "Don't be silly. You couldn't drive like that. Your sister is here to pick you up. There. Got everything?" And then it hit him. He didn't have a sister. Well, unless you counted that still born his mom'd had... But no... there was no sister.  
  
But he no time to think about it. They were out side and a woman with very short blonde hair was helping him into the car. I sat uncomfortably in the front seat of that little red car as she ran around to get in.  
  
The drugs they had given me had wiped me out. I know that other wise I would never have gotten in a car with a strange woman. It was like something out of a abominable movie where she would lose that happy friendly exterior as soon as we pulled away but as I sat marveling at how much my life resembled a horribly predictable movie, I realized that I had no where else to go. No car and no desire to go back, so I sat there waiting for her to do what ever to me. Damn those drugs.  
  
I felt more than a little lost as she climbed in and turned to me with a bright smile on her face. And as we pulled away to a course of "Bye, Xander!"s, her smile didn't even fade as she said: "Hi! I'm Amanda."  
  
I nodded. Amanda. A name that I stored away in my drowsy mind. I opened my mouth to ask what was going on but she seemed to be able to stay one jump ahead. "I just saw what happened out there with the sword guys. Figured you could use a hand. So, here I am."  
  
A million things raced through my mind. I wanted to ask what she was doing way out there at that time. I wanted to ask why she'd stooped to help a stranger. Why she'd take him under his wing like this. "Why are you helping me?"  
  
"We've all been there at one time or another." Her happy facade drained for a moment leaving her bare and stripped of all her innocent defenses leaving in its place a pale frightened little girl who's been left alone in the dark. But it was only a flash. Gone too soon to take any real notice of it.  
  
"Where are we going?" Not that I really cared. The compass was pointing north and that meant it wasn't Sunnydale.  
  
"Up north. A friend of mine lives in Seacouver. Figured we'd go there." I nodded. There was something about this woman that struck me as not quite right but another part of her made me trust her compleatly. Maybe it was the look in her eyes. So much like Buffy's were and like Willow's had become. Like my own. Like she'd seen far too much of life and far more of it than the few lines on her face showed.  
  
"So, what's in Seacouver? Any sights to see?"  
  
"Not really. My friend owns a dojo. Do you work out or anything? Might help you recuperate."  
  
"Some times. I some times work out." Did fighting the forces of evil count?  
  
"Hey, I never caught your name," she said. It was a lie. She'd signed me out of the hospital and heard as they called my name when I left. She knew but she wasn't admitting it. Maybe she was right. We've all been there...* She somehow knew I was running away from something and the best way to do that was to break with it entirely. Beginning with a name.  
  
"Alex," I told her. It rolled off my tongue easily. It was something close enough to my own name that I would still feel comfortable with it. But it still, it seemed another person entirely which was what I needed. I said the word softly to myself. "Alex." And so, for all intents and proposes, Xander Harris was killed by the man with the sword in a dusty parking lot. Alex was getting up from the dust and walking away. A few scars added to his body but nothing more major than that. What was left of my past lay in that dust which would be stirred about by the next gust of air and scrambled beyond recognition. Fare-thee-well Sunnydale. May it be that I never see you again. But memories are never that easy to bury. You can run for years and miles, but they always catch up to you in the end.  
  
TBC?  
  
Thank you so much to every one who reviewed. For those of you who told me how much you love Xander, go read the stuff by Scb047. It's all about Xander and very well written. It's not a crossover but It is my favorite thing on the web. I'm trying really hard to make this different from the usual "Xander' finds out he's immortal and goes and lives happily ever after with either Duncan and Co or the scooby gang." Not gonna happen here. 


	3. Ace and Delmar

Title: Just Short Of Peace  
  
By: Cheddar  
  
Rating: PG-!3  
  
Summery: Xander is running away from his problems and new ones catch up.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or Highlander. No one on this site does. Get over it.  
  
Note: Wow! I really wasn't expecting any one to like this story but I am overwhelmed y the positive feedback I've been getting. I'm taking all your suggestions to heart and plan to correct some of them by the end of the week. Just so you know, the story is told in first person by Xander but in third person by Ace and at some points by Amanda. I'm separating their narratives with a * but I can label them better if you all want. Thanks iwbush!  
  
Feedback: Please tell me what you honestly think. I'm sick and tired of people being superficial and fake. I get enough of that in real life.  
  
*  
  
Ace didn't know why but something about this just seemed wrong. His friend and teacher held the boy fast to the car. Delmar had always told him that he would be able to feel a pre-immortal but nothing came from the dark haired boy. No glimmer of a quickening and no taste of fear either. But there was defiantly something different about him. Was this how the pre- immortals felt to immortals? Was this how he had felt to Delmar in the seconds before the sword went into his own back? Ace had no way of knowing.  
  
Delmar was glaring at him now and Ace lay the sword on the kid's back. Ace almost laughed as the realization struck him like a hard blow. Delmar was so convinced he was evil and that he could really kill this innocent boy but Ace knew that he was wrong. He could never kill this goofy looking kid who had probably grown up in a sleepy little town where nothing ever happened. This was probably his escape from wonderful parents that he hated because they were so perfect.  
  
Jerking his sword hand up, Ace could feel the fast approaching presence of yet another Immortal. What was it with these people? Surely they did not travel in packs or anything but they always seemed to be drawn to each other.  
  
Delmar muttered under his breath and Ace saw the impatience growing in his eyes. He had cut a deep gash in the kid's back when the unknown Immortal came into range. He must have also cut his head because there was blood coming out of that body part too. So much blood...  
  
Before he knew what he was doing, Ace swung the sword around and planted it deep in Delmar's back. The older man was dead but looks could be so deceiving. A car pulled its self to a stop throwing dust and sand everywhere. The driver's door opened and a woman with short white blond hair got out.  
  
Ace felt the explanation pouring out of his mouth even before she spoke. "He-he was trying to kill him. He was going to kill that kid!" It all came out in a rush but the woman seemed to be ignoring him. She checked the boy for a pulse and jerked him up and began to carry him to her car without even listening to what Ace was saying.  
  
"I-I grabbed the sword and... look, lady, take the kid. Get him the hell away from here. I'll take care of... Maybe you could train him. I don't know if he's pre-immy or not but there sure as hell is something different about him." The woman nodded.  
  
"Thanks," she said and got in the car. They drove off and the only clue that it hadn't been a horrible dream was Delmar laying there with a sword still in his back.  
  
"I'm sorry it had to come to this." Ace withdrew the sword and as he friend and teacher gasped awake, he swung his sword around taking Delmar's head in a single silent stroke. For a moment all was silent. Then, three hundred years of evil began to spill out of the headless body laying on the ground and it choked the air.  
  
*  
  
The boy beside her would not know of these details until much later but we'll get to that. A week later the two of them were speeding north with the thoughts of Duncan and Immortals working at a car repair place whirled to confusion in her mind. It was confusing. And what had the boy meant when he told her that there was something different about him?  
  
Alex. Now there was a real puzzle. Yeah, she knew he was running away from something. As a thief, running... er... retreating was part of her daily life. But this kid didn't seem like the type to be running away. What could possibly be so bad back where he came from that he saw running away as the way out of it all? He was too young for it to be *that* bad.  
  
But the news she'd watched on the rinky dink television set in her hotel room last night crept into her thoughts. A little girl raped and beaten and left for dead by her foster family. She'd killed herself. Damn. This was one fucked up century.  
  
*  
  
We drove all morning and well into the late afternoon. We stopped over once at a drive through window for lunch just south of San Francisco in a town called Gilroy. I had slept most of the ride and in my few hours of wakefulness Amanda and I talked.  
  
We didn't talk about what had happened. I wasn't sure I wanted to know.. Amanda told me it had been "taken care of" and we left it at that. We didn't really talk about anything in peticular either. We talked about the sights we passed.  
  
As we passed through San Francisco, I thought that maybe I could see myself living here in this wonderful city by the bay. It seemed so full of life and so compleatly different from anything I was trying so hard to forget. But for now it was too close to all of that. And we drove on.  
  
Our general discussions led to a conversation about places to live. Amanda, it seemed, had lived everywhere. She laughed merrily at my enthusiasm over places which she said were horribly over rated. "Greece? It's nice I guess but it's so hot!" But no matter what her gripe over a city or country was I always got the same response when I asked specifics about a place. "It's been a while since I was there."  
  
Oh but once I got her started on Paris! "I love it there. I think you'd like it too. But you need a girlfriend. Paris isn't half as much fun without some one to share it with." I couldn't help it. Anya's face slipped into my mind. I could still hear her going on about Paris.  
  
"Oooo! I love Paris! It's so romantic! We should go there some time!" I remembered how her voice trailed off. "Well, I guess that when I turned that one man's penis blue and green it wasn't so romantic. Especially for his mistress." The strange smile on the memory's face reminded me how she could some times be a pain the ass. I don't think Amanda noticed how I'd zoned out like that. Thank the PTB.  
  
But she did seem to get the hint that I'd like to change the subject and so our words left Paris and turned instead to the place we were headed. "It's a nice little city." She told me all about her friends we were going to meet.  
  
All about Duncan who owned the dojo. "He's like a big broody overgrown boy scout." I laughed. I couldn't help it. Broody? Boy scout? Was it just me or did this man sound like a living version of Angel. Emphasis on the live part seeing as how I didn't plan on running into any vampires her in Washington state.  
  
As My traveling companion talked, it occurred to me that there was something more to her relationship with the topic of conversation. But I couldn't place it. I was never good at pegging relationships. that was always one of the girls' jobs. But there was something more than nothing there. A friend? A lover? Only time would tell me.  
  
She told me about Richie. "He's closest to your age but he's hardly ever around anymore. He lives in New York." As she told me about his work with his 'beloved' motorcycles, I puzzled over the bit about him being the closest to my age. Amanda here looked my age. But I shrugged it off.  
  
And then she got to Adam. "A beer drinking British pain in the ass," I believe were her exact words. I laughed. I couldn't help myself. Don't tell me we had a Spike wanna-be too!  
  
In a twisted way it almost reminded me of the scooby gang back home. Right down to the old man, Joe Dawson. He struck me as the Giles type. The older know everything or find it in a book sort of man.  
  
As she prattled on about how Duncan was a collector of swords and to not be alarmed by the amount of swords he had in his possession, I realized something. I would either fit right into this seemingly mismatched group of people or I would stick out like a sore thumb and make it very uncomfortable for all concerned. I hoped I'd fit in.  
  
*  
  
TBC  
  
Thanks again to all the people who reviewed this! I loved the stories you all sent me about Xander. I admit to having read a few of them in the past but it was fun to revisit them :-)I think I finally figured out where I'm going with this story. It has a plot! Three cheers. I'm sorry this chapter was a little short but I wanted it to end there. It was kind of a 'after the fight but before the storm' kinda things. If you don't get what I mean by that then I'm sorry. I don't know when I'll get a chance to write the next part. I hope to have it done sooner than this chapter was but I have finales coming up. When they're over I'll have all summer to finish this story and Journey of Legends. (For all you people who read Harry Potter fanfics, please go r/r that one. It's my pride and joy and I actually like it better than this one.) So thank you all for your support and keep it coming! 


	4. Duncan and Richie

Title: Just Short of Peace  
  
Chapter Four: Duncan and Richie  
  
By: Cheddar  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any of them.  
  
Author's note: I have a really kinda random question for any one. What have people heard about Joss W.'s new show Firefly? Good? Bad? No clue? Just wondering. And another thing: Is any one else pissed off by the way the X- files series finale ended? I was.  
  
Feedback: Please! I am so overwhelmed by what you all have said. Please tell me what you really think about this story cause if it sucks I'm not going to finish it.  
  
*  
  
In Seattle I think I began to wonder. Did anyone ever notice the way Seattle and Vancouver could be combined and come out the other side as Seacouver? Or was I just having some way strange side effects from my medicines?  
  
I Shared my little ponderment with Amanda. She laughed. "So true," She said and I realized that I had not felt this happy and/or carefree in years. There was no evil of the week to vanquish with bad jokes, donut runs, endless research, and Buffy doing it on her own in the end. It was like before Buffy ever came to Sunnydale. When it was just Willow and Jesse and Me...  
  
I didn't share that with Amanda. I was coming to like the woman. She had a sharp wit peppered with jokes and puns. Most of which related to history or thievery. But I never picked up on any of that. I was too wrapped up in his shell I'd built around myself. I would have been content to drive all over the world with Amanda and I didn't even know her last name. She was one of those people that was so much like me that we should have hated each other but she knew what to say. A trick that comes from practice.  
  
As much as driving in that car with that woman until both of us were old and gray drove the thoughts of what I was leaving behind, I was brought crashing back into reality when it hit me. She was like me. She was the 'Xander' for the little scooby gang we were going to meet. But lucky them, they didn't kill things for a living.  
  
Just past Seattle, Amanda had me fish her cell phone out of her bag so she could call the people we were going to be seeing. She didn't need her address book. Oh no, she just dialed the number from memory which was a skill I admired. I had trouble remembering my own number.  
  
The Phone rang and I heard some one pick up. "Hello?" said Amanda. "Duncan?... It's Amanda." As she listened to him talk, a smile spread across her face. "No. I haven't gotten into any trouble here yet. I haven't been in town long enough." She listened. "What do you mean what do I mean by 'in town'? I mean, I'm coming to visit." Again with the listening. "Yeah and I've got a friend with me... His name is Alex" (quick note: I liked the way she said my name. I reminded me that this whole running away thing might work this time.) "No, nothing like that... We should be there in oh say," She checked her watch. "Twenty minutes?... Ok, See you then. Love 'ya!"  
  
The rest of the ride was spent in companionable silence as I watched the gentle rain sputter against the windshield. It was as if the whole world was waiting for us to arrive but I didn't want to go. Did I?  
  
She pulled her car into a very narrow pace and slid out of the car. We'd parked in front of a large brick building. People danced with swords and fists before the window and I felt transported back to the back room of the Magic Box... or no, even before that... to the library at Sunnydale high. Watching Giles and Buffy go at it like there was no tomorrow because in truth, tomorrow was less than a whisper of a promise to Buffy and she lived up to the challenge.  
  
I hadn't told Amanda but deep down I was scared shitless. I'd spent so many years in the center of my group of friends and it had been a while since I'd had to worry about acceptance by others. But who was I kidding? I was acting like some seventeen year old who wanted to be popular. I was twenty two years old damn it and I'd be damned if I was going to let a bunch of strangers walk all over me... yeah... me and my Mr. Pointy... Damn it!  
  
Coming back into the present, I saw Amanda waiting calmly for me by the door. I felt my goofy 'Xander grin' slide onto my face and I quickly slid out and joined her. But she didn't even pause as she walked into the building. She walked right past the desk and the work out mats. Right past all of it. She head right in to the office at the back where a man sat slouched at the desk.  
  
I don't think I'll ever be able to place what it was about this man that made me think of him. I mean, he and Angel look almost nothing alike. It must have been that dark brooding look he had going on... right down to the heavy eyebrows that left half his face shadowed.  
  
The Angel wannabe looked up as we entered the room and gave me the strangest of the strange looks. But he stood up and gave Amanda a warm hug and caste kiss, and said "hello". weather that hello was meant for me or the pretty lady was unclear.  
  
"Duncan, this is Alex. Alex, this is Duncan MacLeod." She stood with one of those proud mother type of smiles plastered to her face. It was almost endreaing.  
  
But Duncan gave me his hand and I shook it. The hand shake really did wonders for him. His brooding mood seemed to lift like... well I don't know what it was like but hey, I tried. Angel's moods had never lifted that quick.. or at all come to think about it. Dead Boy had been Brood Boy 24/7.  
  
Oh, right, Duncan! So we shook hands and he smiled. "We close in about fifteen minutes. Then we can all head over to Joe's Why don't you take Alex upstairs to meet Richie and I'll be up in a few minutes." Amanda nodded.  
  
"Oh! Rich's here? That good. I haven't seen him in awhile" She looked flustered but Duncan laughed.  
  
"I'll be right up. It was good to meet you, Alex."  
  
And so I found myself in an ancient looking elevator that made far too much noise and made me far too uncomfortable what with the shaking and all for it to be comfortable. But at last we reached the top and the doors opened on what could only be called a bachelor pad.  
  
My thoughts were interrupted by Amanda squealing. "Richie!" It was a strange sound coming from her. Richie, it turns out, was only seventeen or so. I couldn't really tell but that seemed about right when compared to Dawn's age of fourteen. He submitted to Amanda's hugs like she was some spinster aunt. I should know. I had a lot of those.  
  
Introductions were passed between me and him finally and he proceed to show us the lay of the house. ("That's the kitchen, that's the dining room, that's the couch where I sleep, that's the floor where the dust sleeps..." ok, sorry. That wasn't as funny as it sounded in my head.)  
  
As I listened to him joke about Duncan's living style, I got this sense from him that Richie was like Oz in a way. That kind of trusting person who has a ton of wild ideas he's just waiting to try out. Intensely loyal to one or two people. Maybe it had something to do with... Nope. Not that either. I just couldn't explain it.  
  
But Mr. Ryan's cracks about this thing and that item were far more pleasant than I'd have thought. It was like having friends again. And this time the only thing keeping us together wasn't Buffy or some big powerful weekly evil. It was something even more primitive than that and I missed it.  
  
When Duncan was ready, we all left the now dark dojo. Richie and I piled into one car (we'd really hit it off. I guess Amanda was right) And Duncan and the said female piled into the other. Amanda had told every one where they were sitting.  
  
"Alex, you go with Richie. I want to talk to you, Duncan." Richie and I exchanged knowing looks as we got into the car. Gee, wonder what they wanted to talk about.. :-)  
  
A/N: I know that was short but I'm working on it. Hopefully the next chapter will be longer but only if people want a net chapter. I'm not updating unless people review. I can just leave it here. 


	5. Adam and Joe

Chapter Five: Adam and Joe  
  
Disclaimer: i don't own it and I'm not claiming to.  
  
A/N: Wow, 60 reviews! It really means a lot to me. I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated this and I can't promise it'll be better but we'll see. Thanks to TD Master who pointed out my mess up with France and the American Revolution. I got my dates messed up and to answer a question I got about when Xander is going to join in the conversation: next Chapter is a whole long talk between him and Adam. Sorry about that. It's fixed now. Enjoy and don't forget to review!  
  
The drive from the dojo to the bar named Joe's was a short one. I spent most of it thinking. I didn't get much done. But something was gnawing away at me. Weather it was the guilt of leaving Anya at the alter or the pain of running from it, I don't know but it still hurt. Like a physical weight on my chest. Richie was kind enough to let me be.  
  
We walked into the shadowy place and I took a moment to let my eyes adjust. A man playing his guitar on the small stage gave us a friendly nod as he continued his set and Amanda led our group over to the bar. "Are you even old enough to drink?" Richie asked with a twinkle in his eyes.  
  
I smirked at the younger looking man. "I am. Are you?" He laughed.  
  
"I don't look it do I? What do you want?"  
  
"Coke's fine," I told him. I really wasn't in the mood. He smiled and ordered the drinks. As I sipped mine, I looked around the room at the other patrons. It was a very mixed crowd.  
  
The place was filled with people of all shapes and sizes. A group of teenagers dressed in "theater black" sat in a shadowed corner drinking cokes and coffee while an old man sat in front of the stage rocking in time with the music. A group of business type folk sat at a table with drinks winding down and talking about days filled with layoffs and lawsuits. It was the cam before the dinnertime storm.  
  
The man on stage set the instrument down to applause and requests for more but he waved them off and came over to our little party. After saying hello he asked. "So, Mac, who's this?" He seemed genuinely curious. I became suddenly aware that i saw the center of attention and that Amanda had slipped off to someplace.  
  
"Joe, This is Alex. Alex this is Joe. Amanda picked him up." Joe raised his eyebrows but said nothing. Thank God Amanda chose that moment to make her appearance. "Amanda! I thought I saw you come in. how long are you staying?"  
  
She smiled as she gave him a hug. "Hi, Joe." Every one looked at her.  
  
"Yeah, Amanda. How long are you staying this time?" Richie seemed to lack any tack in this matter. A fact made apparent by Duncan's swatting him playfully in the arm. "  
  
"I don't know. I kind of wanted to go to Italy at some point in the near future." For some reason that made me feel suddenly drained. She was going to leave? When I had only just found a place where I might belong again after my big screw up back in Sunnydale? I think she saw the look on my face because she added quickly, "Of corse, I want to find Alex a place to stay first. Maybe with you, Duncan." She turned to him with a sweet smile.  
  
He laughed. "I'd love to but there's no room. Maybe Adam has some pace for him." I felt like some toy or puppy dog they were trying to find a home for. Maybe I could do my snoopy dance and they'd want me more...  
  
"Are you kidding? Adam?" Richie couldn't seem to control his laughter at the thought.  
  
"It was just a thought," the other man said with a grin. Why did I feel like I was missing something.  
  
Thankfully that ended the conversation. They went on to talk about one thing and another which somehow led to an argument over weather or not the Dutch was really who inspired America to break away from Britain. Something about taxes and such.  
  
"I'm telling you, that's not where they got the idea!" Duncan said.  
  
"Then where?" asked Joe.  
  
"From Rome!"  
  
"Rome?" Richie asked.  
  
"Yeah," chimed in Amanda. "Rome was the big mighty conquers that came from nothing."  
  
"Are you telling me that America was founded so they could take over the world?"  
  
"Nope. They just wanted Europe." Amanda looked around very happy that she had made her point. I felt compleatly lost. As if they had had the conversation in Latin. It was that haze of trying not to remember that I'd been in for the past few days... weeks... I didn't know any more.  
  
***  
  
It had been a while since I'd seen Amanda and I'd forgotten what it was like having her around. Crazy with dash of wacky-ness and a pinch of the very odd. It was draining just listening to them fight. They were trying to help Richie out with his term paper for U.S. History 101 but proceeded in getting the young man even more confused.  
  
But if Richie was confused, Alex was compleatly perplexed and bewildered. The boy was a puzzle to me. I knew he wasn't immortal. I could tell by they way the others acted around him. Never saying "I was there!" or anything else to that affect. Although, if they had, I don't think the boy would have known. He was just barely following the conversation and not really caring. When Duncan suggested his staying with Adam, I thought it was just what the boy needed to snap him out of what ever funk he was in.  
  
Speak of the devil... The old guy himself chose that moment to slump in and mutter something about beer before turning to Alex with one eyebrow quirked and inquiring: "And you are...?" Introductions were made and a few jokes were swapped about Duncan's ever being the boy-scout once more which cause Alex to break a smile.  
  
It looked good on him. Like it was what he was used to doing. Smiling in an awkward situation. Adam, I think, took a liking to the kid and spent time talking to him about things in general. The boy didn't seem to be well read which almost bored the older man but when Adam mentioned Bram Stoker's Dracula, Alex seemed to both perk up and slump down in his chair at the same time. I almost laughed out loud.  
  
"You've read it?" Adam asked.  
  
"Uh... Yeah, something like that. Didn't like it much. Never was one for bugs eaters and all..."  
  
Adam gave me a look that made me want to laugh. He didn't know what to make of the kid either which was something of a comfort to me. And so the rest of the evening progressed.  
  
***  
  
Dracula. I don't even know how the conversation came up but the two of them went at the for a good fifteen minutes before moving on to another book. And I couldn't tell you anything about that one if you asked so don't.  
  
I still find it hard to believe that after the events of the past two weeks I was coherent (somewhat) much less functioning at all. It's a wonder that no one asked me what I was on. I think I sat there with a glazed look on my face. They had just accepted me. As if they known me their entire life. I wasn't sure how I felt about it yet.  
  
I liked Joe. He watched everything with a reporter's eye. Remembering everything as if he had to write a report about it alter but was just enjoying himself for the time being. He seemed to know just when to fade into the background and when to jump out and make his presence known. He seemed to act like a father to the others at times and yet they seemed to treat him almost like a child himself. Kinda like Giles.  
  
Amanda was great. She had a sharp wit and wild ideas but he could be very sympathetic. I knew I held no feelings for her other than friend but I think that if circumstances had been better, I might have loved her.  
  
Richie was fun. He reminded me a lot of Oz. A great sense of humor mix with a bunch of other unexplainable things that made up his personality. That undeniable something that made you want him as a brother or something.  
  
Duncan was like Angel. Broody with that I-can-save-the-world-but-it's- already-too-late attitude. He could make you smile though, when it came right down to it, and I didn't know if I was smiling at him or how much he reminded me of dead-boy.  
  
And then there was Adam who was like no one I'd ever met. He was cynicism and cruelty as well as that tiny spark of him that was like a bad little boy who wanted to be good... but he was already in way over his head.  
  
And as the evening wound to a close at about ten, I began to wonder where I was supposed to go. Would I go with Amanda? I doubted it. She and Duncan seemed to be flirting like there was no tomorrow over in the corner while Joe and Richie looked on with barely concealed smiles. Adam was lost in his beer but a far cry from drunk. Suddenly the very happy twosome stood up and went for the door calling good-byes over their shoulders. Every one looked slightly perplexed and Joe began to wipe up the bar asking Richie if he had a place for the night.  
  
"Yep. I got an apartment over on Elm. Hey, Alex, you need a place to stay seeing as how Amanda skipped out on you?" I was about to answer but Adam cut in.  
  
"He's staying with me." Joe raised his eyebrows at this as did Richie. But neither said anything.  
  
Rich just smiled and said, "Whatever you say, Yoda."  
  
"I'm not Yoda!" Adam called after him as the other man left. With a shake of his head and a wary smile he turned to me. "It's all Duncan's fault." And with that he went back to his beer.  
  
Joe laughed and leaned over the bar towards me. "If he gives you any trouble, you just call me all right?" And he kept laughing as people slowly left for the night. Adam got up to leave at ten thirty and I followed him out to his car. Little did I know it then, but I was going home with Death. Yeah, I'd always had been the lucky one.  
  
Read? Review! You KNOW you want to... *hint*hint* 


	6. Adam and Alex

Just Short of Peace By:Cheddar  
  
Chapter Six: Adam and Alex  
  
Disclaimer: I don't any of the implied people places or beings represented in this here fanfic. Ya'll understand that?  
  
Note: Well, Here it is. I hope you all like it as much as the rest of it. I fully intend to finish this fic. It's going to be ten chapters and it's all just a matter of typing them out. But I'm really busy so there you go. Please review!  
***  
  
The drive home wasn't as akward as I thought it should have been. Adam turned out to be a nice guy once you got past the whole I'm-a-jerk thing. We ended up getting along well but not great. There'd be times when He'd bury himself away in his books and journals. All of which looked like they'd seen better days... as in centuries ago kinda better days. It was weird.  
  
He'd been everywhere and found it hard to believe that I'd only ever been to LA before. He told me great stories about the places he'd been over beer and sandwiches on stale bread. The latter was for me. As far as I knew, Adam didn't eat anything but pretzels and buffalo wings at Joe's.  
  
We went to Joe's just about every night. Some times The others would be there too. Duncan and Amanda came less often than Richie who never let a night without their presence go by uncommented upon.  
  
They seemed like an interesting group of people but there was something in their friendship that ran far deeper than I could have ever understood. There were times they'd be talking and suddenly stop and look at me as if afraid to say something in front of me. It was the way people act when they have a long shared history and a new comer appears on the scene. Lucky for me I was the new comer. But I didn't hold it against them. Back home we'd been the same and yet always managed to integrate the new person eventually. And besides, I had my own secrets didn't I?  
  
None of them knew about the things that go bump in the night. (Well, I have to say that never once did one of them 'go bump'. Normally they roared or screamed or yelled or something like that. Sure, there was the time with the gentleman and the not making any sound at all and Sweet the demon and the singing... Shudder... but for the most part the things that go bump in the night never really go bump.) And I didn't want them to know about it. Them... Whatever. I just didn't want them to have to be a part of that. If I could, I wanted to spare them.  
  
I think I might have been happy to spend the rest of my life there. It was as close to my old friends as I was ever going to get and as the months slipped by I stopped comparing each of my new friends to each of my old and began to accept them as the very colorful characters they were. I was happy... But maybe I shouldn't have been. I don't know. I doubt I ever will.  
  
***  
  
The kid was a complete puzzle to me. He seemed to know things but it wasn't the kind of stuff you'd expect a kid like that to know. Like the time when I was reading the paper and there was an article about a man they'd found in an alley drained of blood. Alex just went off telling me about how it could have been caused by several things. That if one knew which arteries to hit and all that. And it wasn't even that. He used a lot of technical terms like you'd find in a coroner's report. I couldn't help but ask how he knew all that. "I used to want to be a coroner person," he lied. But it was funny watching him stutter like that.  
  
"Or it could have been a vampire," I said to see how he'd react. I had a feeling there was a lot he wasn't saying and I wondered how he'd react to that. He gave a nervous little laugh and some inane comments about Dracula before he made a dash for his room.  
  
Later that night I was online doing some of my own research. Ever since that demon had taken a liking to MacLeod I'd been researching whatever I could on the web. (Useful thing by the way. There were a few times in the past I could have used it but no...) Tonight, though, I wasn't just wandering around the 'net on a random search. I was after something. Something that would be in the watchers' files.  
  
And by Watchers I mean the same organization that watches both Immortals and the Slayer. They were one in the same but they almost never interacted. But it was in their archives that I found it. A reference made by the watcher of a slayer who'd turned out to be immortal. She'd told him that when he'd touched a certain demon's blood, it'd worked it's way into his blood stream and ever after he felt like a pre-immortal in her mind. But that was all I could find. Not a scrap of anything else. Now if only I knew if Alex were really immortal or not. I decided to train as if her were one. If nothing else it might starve off attacks from other immortals.  
  
***  
  
When Adam said that I should learn to sword fight, I thought he was kidding. I wouldn't have put it passed him but he was very serious. I think I surprised him with how quickly I took to it. I know I surprised myself. Maybe it was all those years of watching Buffy train with Giles. I remember sitting with Willow and sometimes Oz and/or Cordy and watching Buffy give Giles bruises like you wouldn't believe. I believed it. I was a punching bag too and even under all those pads I still felt each hit like there was nothing but skin on skin. That's how hard she hit. I have to say, I didn't miss it.  
  
So we spent hours a day practicing. Adam was good. Amazingly so. More than once I wondered how the Slayer would fare against him but for the life of me I couldn't figure out who would win. Maybe neither. It didn't matter. She wasn't fighting him. I was. And as the weeks turned into months and those months almost made up a year, I got better an better and Adam and I fell into a routine. We'd sleep in late having stayed up late the night before and then train for a few hours either at his place or at Duncan's. In the afternoon we'd each do our own thing until about six or so when we went to Joe's and stayed until closing. It was a nice normal life. Comfortable. But then it was all thrown into a deadly tailspin.  
  
We were all at Joe's. Richie was talking about something I didn't care to listen to and so I sat sipping my water watching the crowd.  
  
"So, Alex, I've been dying to know, man. Who's that girl in your wallet?" It was Richie and how he'd ever found the picture, I'll never know.  
  
"Which one?" snorted Adam. "There's about four girls in there. And a guy." He wiggled his eyebrows at me. "Is there something you aren't telling us?" Rich was trying not to giggle. Amanda had already lost that fight and was giggling like crazy.  
  
"What's this now?" asked Duncan. I had a feeling this had all been set up by Adam, Rich, and Amanda but I couldn't prove it.  
  
"Oh!" Amanda squealed in a manner that was not very like her. I rolled my eyes. It must have been her that found them. She had a knack for that's for sure. "He's got some pictures of some girls in his wallet. They're all really pretty." She turned back to me. "Come on, Alex. Who are they?"  
  
I relented and pulled out said wallet. Pulling out the pictures I lay them on the table. "That's Buffy, Willow, Cordy, and Willow's girlfriend Tara. They're friends of mine from back home in high school. Buffy and Willow were my best friends. You know, the kind that share everything? Yeah, it was like that." I got real quiet and when I looked up I couldn't help but notice the way that Duncan and Amanda fit so perfectly. Like me and Anya had once upon a time. I felt bad for lying to them and saying that Anya's picture was that of Tara but I wasn't going to get into that. They needed to hear something about the girl in the picture and It sure as hell wasn't going to be the truth.  
  
That night I got lost on the internet. Amanda's words of "who are they?" hung in my mind. It made me realize for the first time in almost a year how much I missed them. So I log onto find back issues of he newspaper. I found lots of deaths. That shouldn't have been unusual for Sunnydale but several times I came across cases of missing corpses and there were more PCP gang related incidents than I remembered. Maybe I didn't remember so many since I hadn't been there but it still seemed off.  
  
But that wasn't all I'd found. Oz was killed. Shot by police when he'd suddenly lost control one night while in human form and started attacking people at a cafe downtown. I wondered what had happened to him. It wasn't like him. Not our quiet Oz with the crazy shirts and few words.  
  
And some crazy old men had gotten it in their heads that there were witches living in good-old Sunnyhell. They burnt their coven house to the ground one night when they were having a meeting. Tara MacClay was among the dead.  
  
But of Willow and Anya and Buffy there was no sign. I wondered if Willow knew about Tara and Oz. I wondered if she knew what had become of Buffy and Anya. I wondered...  
  
With a shake of my head I knew that I could sit there wondering what had happened and who knew what or I could go and find out for myself. It never occurred to me just to call. No, I had to go. And once my mind was made up, I went to pack. I could be there in a few hours. If only to put my mind at ease. It should have been simple.  
  
I told Adam where I was headed. He said simply, "I'll go with you." I looked at him for a moment before I got it off my chest. Something that'd been bugging me for a while.  
  
"Look, I'm not... you know. Like that." I hoped he'd apologize but he just laughed.  
  
"Alex, I may be many things but attacked to you in that way isn't one of them." I didn't know whether to be grateful or offended and in the end just ignored it. Friends and all that right?  
  
So here I go. I'm on my way back home. I don't know why I was so frightened as we drove to the airport. I was just going to Sunnydale... right. And we all know that Sunnydale is the last place on earth that a person could be killed in a million horrible ways. Yep. Good old Sunnydale.  
  
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